Pfizer diabetes program improves health outcome

Pfizer Health Solutions is taking its diabetes patient education program Amigos en Salud/ Friends in Health national after a four-city pilot showed significant improvements in health outcomes among diabetes patients.

The program, aimed at helping African American and Hispanic patients self-manage their diabetes, was designed for implementation by community health workers in conjunction with clinics or hospitals. Materials will be made available on the program's Web site, amigosensalud.com, for download by community health centers and publicized through conventions, word-of-mouth and via e-mail.

The pilots found statistically significant improvements not only in diabetes management among patients, but also in cholesterol levels, depression, cardiovascular health and other co-morbid conditions.

“We saw this as an opportunity to run pilots so that we could show that, in fact, they're an excellent way to improve healthcare at a low cost rather than using health professionals in areas where access is a problem,” said Eileen Crowley, senior project manager at Pfizer Health Solutions, a Pfizer subsidiary.

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